Director Michael Moore met with Pope Francis and made some comments about that meeting:

November 2, 2018

Michael Moore, the liberal film-maker, told “Late Night” with Seth Meyers that he met the pope two weeks ago and asked him about income inequality:

I went to the weekly audience, and then he asked to speak to me privately. It was an amazing moment, and I asked him if I could ask him a question. … And I said, “So you believe capitalism, the kinda — the capitalism we have now is a sin?” He goes, “Yes, it is.” He said, “The poor must always come first.”

Michael Moore partnered with producers Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein in May 2017 to produce and distribute Fahrenheit 11/9. but after Harvey Weinstein had additional charges against him for sexual impropriety he did not provide the funding as originally expected–but funding to make the film did happen from other sources per Wikipedia.

Michael Moore wasn’t taken seriously when he predicted that Donald Trump would win the 2016 election, but his insights have become highly sought-after since that fateful day in November 2016. Not coincidentally, that date is also the source of his upcoming documentary “Fahrenheit 11/9,” which Moore discussed last night on “Real Time with Bill Maher”: “You have to listen this time because he is going to win the 2020 election,” he said. “This man believes in being president for life.”

While the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10) and people should care for the poor (cf. Galatians 2:10, 6:7-10; James 2:15-17), capitalism, per se, is not a sin.

People like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were capitalists. Jesus (Matthew 25:14-28) and Peter (Acts 5:3-4) made capitalist supporting statements, as well as statements in support of the poor.

Here is a ‘capitalist’ supporting parable spoken by Jesus:

12 Therefore He said: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’

14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We will not have this man to reign over us.’

15 And so it was that when he returned, having received the kingdom, he then commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

16 Then came the first, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned ten minas.’

17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.’

18 And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your mina has earned five minas.’

19 Likewise he said to him, ‘You also be over five cities.’

20 Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I have kept put away in a handkerchief.

21 For I feared you, because you are an austere man. You collect what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’

22 And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was an austere man, collecting what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow.

23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, that at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’

24 And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to him who has ten minas.’

25 (But they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas.’)

26 For I say to you, that to everyone who has will be given; and from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. (Luke 19:12-26)

This does not mean that capitalists do not sin, but it is in conflict with Pope Francis’ assertion that capitalism is a sin.

Well, what about socialism?

Notice a report that the BBC had today about the oil-rich socialist nation of Venezuela:

Venezuela crisis: Mothers giving away babies, children living on streets

2 November 2018

Extreme poverty has jumped 40%, deaths related to child malnutrition are on the rise, and millions have fled the country in the past two years.

Many inside and outside Venezuela blame the policies of socialist President Nicolas Maduro. …

Venezuela’s Maduro Admits Socialist Model Has Failed

August 2, 2018

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro admitted that his socialist economic model has “failed” amid food and medicine shortages as well as a failing infrastructure highlighted by Tuesday’s power failure to 80% of Caracas. …

“The production models we’ve tried so far have failed and the responsibility is ours, mine and yours,” Maduro told his ruling PSUV party congress. …

No word on whether he took a bite of an empanada during his speech while his country starves on the “Maduro diet” – a phrase coined after Venezuela’s notorious food shortages gave rise to mass starvation across the country. Not even the donkeys are safe. …

Venezuela’s industrial sector is operating at just 30% capacity, as illustrated by the farming sector, which now provides just a quarter of national consumption, after providing 75% just a few years ago according to the National Farmers Federation.